By joshua 
Time for action on Gov Ododo’s operation deliver your ward
By Hon Chris Ben-Kato Senior Special Assistant on information and communication strategy
No one needs a prophet to be told that His Excellency, the Chief Servant of Kogi State, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo has been delivering on his mandate in the last two years. His people oriented programmes in the state have continued to make meaningful impact on the lives of the people of the state.
With what the governor has put on ground in the last two years, members of the All Progressives Congress – APC shouldn’t find it difficult to woo the electorates to vote for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo in the upcoming 2027 general elections.
Already the build up preparations for the 2027 general elections had commenced within the nations’ political actors and the Independent National Electoral Commission – INEC. This build up has triggered electoral anxiety across the thirty six states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja.
As can be seen today, some politicians have started forming groups aimed at wooing the electorates for the 2027 general elections. It is the formation of these political groups and its attendant anxiety that governor Ododohas to address party faithfuls in the state recently. Without mincing words the governor charged his political appointees not to get worried on political groups formations but to move into the electorates and deliver their wards.
The directive of the governor is germane bearing in mind the quantum of political appointees he has put in place in all the two hundred and thirty nine wards of the state. It is required by logic and political expediency that each of the governor’s political appointees should be able to deliver his or her ward during the upcoming 2027 general elections.
And come to think of it, His Excellency, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo has done a lot for the people of the state. In his first year in office, Governor Ododo tackled the perennial salary shortages of the entire Local Government workers in the state. For decades the Local Government workers were placed on percentage salaries with some of them receiving as low as five thousand naira per month. Most of them hardly make ends meet and were not able to pay the school fees of their children. The situation was so appalling and could be better imagined to been experienced.
The coming to power of Governor Ododo has put an end to the long sufferings of Local Government workers. In no distance time the Local Government Areas erupted in joy and life returned to normalcy at the grassroots.
In another bold move, the governor began to revamp the education sector. The governor paid the West Africa School Certificate (WAEC) fees of all the final year students in public schools across the state. And he has continued to do so in the last two years. He has also ensured that scholarship of indigent Kogi State students in tertiary institutions across the federation are continually paid. All these efforts are to ensure that the education system in the state is greatly enhanced and sustained.
On the nine tertiary institutions owned by the Kogi State government, the governor expended millions of naira in improving basic educational infrastructure. The measure has continued to fast track the accreditation of old and new courses in all the Tertiary institutions in the state.
In terms of empowering the youths in the state, the governor ensured that majority of the youths in the state are appointed as Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants, members of Boards, Agencies and Parastaltas, Council Chairmen and Councillors etc. Today majority of Kogi youths have been engaged in the administration of the state.
On security, Governor Ododo has not left any one in the state in doubt on his commitment towards making the state a no go area for criminals. Few months into his administration, the governor bought vehicles and gadgets and distributed them to all the security agencies in the state. This he did to ease the job of the security agents in tackling the men of the underworld who might be plotting to creep into the state. Only recently the governor ordered the demolition of criminal hideouts across the three Senatorial districts of the state. This in effect has made criminals to stay clear from the state. If one compares the insurgency raging in some states of the federation it would not be an understatement to say Kogi is safe.
The women populace in the state has fully been integrated in the administration of Governor Ododo. Due to the governor’s inclusive administration, the governor has helped the women in the state to keep participating actively in the state political activities. Today the women in the state are Vice Chairmen, House Leaders across the twenty one Local Government Areas of the state. Many of them are also Councillors in the Local Government Areas. What’s more, many women in the state are members of Boards, Agencies and Parastaltas. Some of them are commissioners while the State Secretary to Kogi State Government is a female.
Governor Ododo is also very outstanding in the payment of salaries and allowances to state, Local Government workers and the retirees of the state. Salaries are paid promptly between the 22nd and 24th of every month to the state and Local Government workers and this has remained constant since the governor assumed office in January 2024 to date.
In his usual humble manner, the governor took the state workers by surprise when he cash back the promotion of workers in the state in the month of January 2026. The workers in the state saw the action of the governor as the greatest happy new year greetings to the workers in the state
In capping up the year 2025, Governor Ododo took a bond of fifty billion naira for the construction of an Airport and modern market in the state. This twin projects are geared towards generating massive employment for the good people of the state. This viable projects would be great legacies he would leave behind when by the grace of Allah he leaves office by 2032.
Based on the garguatan achievements of the governor in the last two years, it was not our of place for the governor to charge his political appointees and APC faithfuls in the state to go back to the grassroots and deliver their wards especially as the 2027 general elections draw closer.
FOR HIS EXCELLENCY, THE CHIEF SERVANT OF THE STATE, IT IS APT TO STATE THAT, ONE GOOD TERM DESERVES ANOTHER TERM
Hon Chris Ben-Kato is the Senior Special Assistant on information and communication strategy to the Chief Servant of Kogi State, His Excellency, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo.